1,000 worms on their way....

I have the same setup you are going to do. White 5 gal bucket with top on it, bunch of holes in the bottom and I put some around the top just under the lip. Set it inside another bucket without holes for drainage and in case they try to get out. First few nights maybe a dozen or so got out the top and I just put them back in. Since then about 10+/- have died in the bottom bucket but no liquid in it at all. Check on them every couple of days and they seem to be happy now.

hubby and i cant seem to be able to decide on what type of bin to use.....

ackkkk.......

im thinking for our small herd of 200 + worms....we should start with a 5 gal dark bucket with a lid......if all goes well...then we can move up to a larger tote type bin....we are still really confused on how to harvest the castings....we have watch a few video's and such.....so we shall just go with the flow and figure it out as we go....

we thought about drilling holes in the bottom of the bucket....but...i know i would lay in bed at night worry that some of the worms are trying to get out or fall thru the holes and drown in the liquid

such a silly thing to be worrying so much about a bunch of worms.....but..since we are not able to have chickens or rabbits at this time....worms is the best choice for our family to farm....

hugs

rose.....

In the book , Worms Eat My Garbage, it is based on the author's 25 years of taking notes about her worms. Mary Appelhof, with her Master's degrees in both Biology and Education also had national awards from a recycling coalition. So when she talks about container sizes and oxygen for worms, I listen. I went with a cheap rectangle bin from the dollar store. I started with a pound of worms so I don't know how long a bucket will suffice for your 200 wigglers. Anyway a rectangle container has a larger surface area for oxygen and CO2 exchange, compared to a round bucket the same size. Btw, I think you would devour the book, she covers so much in 150 pages!

I think you have plenty of time to think about the methods of harvesting casts, she goes over 3 methods in the book. And besides, it takes around 6 weeks to see your first noticeable amounts of casts. The time frame is good for acquiring the learning curve caring for the little ones. Since we know reading a book and actually doing it is different.

You are right about going with the flow and figuring things out as you go along. One thing I found interesting was that every worm bin is its very own ecosystem, each unique as to what it can produce for us and what it can tolerate. Many factors exist like temperature, food, moisture, bedding, oxygen and CO2 exchange, other living organisms running around in there too. Each affects the other. There is a lot of sources to learn from but in the end you are still left to make your own decisions, really animal husbandry decisions for these special living critters. It is so neat to work with nature.

I met the owner of VermiPro this weekend. He had a demo table at a garden show. His boxes & trays are much smaller than my condo, and he said one tray could hold several thousand worms.

I did peek in on my worms today. The reds have at least doubled in quantity (from 10 known to...?). With the misty weather, I thought it was time to look in.

There were 3 in the lid, 3 in the basin (and a lot of liquid!). The bottom tray, where it was manure and food and earthworms, the media was soaking wet (the food is appears 99% decomposed). No earthworms to be found (not that I wanted to disturb the media that much looking), so either they moved up a layer or are part of the compost! There were 3 reds on the edge of this wet media, moving to the basin I suppose. In the upper tray, the reds are a deep red-brown, a little more red than a buckeye. Grow little wormies! Be fruitful and multiply!

The bottom of the bin is about an inch thick. Hard to tell how moist it is while wearing disposable gloves. It looks lightly moist and it definately has weight to it. Took a mini potting rake and pulled up the material and there were lots of moist worms in the compacted stuff. I thought they didn't live in their waste because it is toxic to them(?). What a surprise to find a whole community living in 'the basement'. Perhaps new casts in a 2 month old bin are not toxic but turn foul later on. Oh well! Guess its ok. Keep reading and learning and it leads to many more questions.

LLm.....thats great that you have some worm castings already

ava....great to hear your worms are doing well!

our small herd are still in a temp home.....havent made it out yet to one of the big box stores to get them a darker home

i peeled back the upper papper bed to put in some egg shells from tonights dinner...i havent seen any worms crawling in the upper paper part....but there were a few in the middle where their food is sitting between the upper and lower paper bed.....they look moist and plump

i think most of them are hiding in the basement where the dirt from the compost bin is at..... i really dont know how comfortable 200 + worms are in such a small area of the bottom of a 5 gal bucket.....

hugs

rose

If you haven't had escapees than all is good. Good to hear you say "comfort" pertaining to your concern for them. I'm thinking the same way. My husband listens and smiles, but I clearly get the point that he doesn't want to have long conversations about worms living in the back bathroom.

At this rate of noticeable castings, it is going to take time to get appreciable amounts to spread around 80 sq.ft. of strawberry and veggie boxes. Hope the end of June to start giving everything a boost and use some in autumn plantings. Could make it stretch by making worm tea. Looking to the future it would be nice to spray the front yard flower beds too.

im thinking the same thing LLm hoping to have enough castings for our fall plantings of broc's, cauli's and cabbages.....then hoping to have enough saved up for next spring plantings also to use in compost tea's....my main goal is to keep the wormies happy and alive hubby already wants to get more worms.....

hugs

rose....who is farming worms on a bench next to the dinner table... tonight daddy threaten to toss in little ones dinner to the worms if he did eat it.... not sure if the worms would of like scrambled eggs and turkey bacon

note to self : need to move that bucket

Ava - hope your little wormies multiply like crazy!
Rose - I think I will look into the particulars, if any, for storing castings. Don't think it's suppose to dry out so what happens over the winter months if our containers needs to be cleaned out and no gardens to use it on?

Wow, all the excitement here makes me want to get a worm farm going!

I am wondering how soon the castings can be used and what should be done over the winter? I have an attached garage that stays around 30 degrees in the very cold months (oct - march), but this is probably too chilly for the little guys.... I'm hoping to not have to bring them in the house, as we have limited space - and a curious dog!

I saw a picture of a bench that had a worm bin inside it. It looked really cool, and served a double-function for keeping worms indoors. I think they were targeting the apartment and condo crowd.

Wonder what Boffer can make of this.

http://milkwood.net/2012/04/28/in-kitchen-worm-farm-design/

http://www.ehow.com/how_12155154_build-vermicomposting-bench.html

Kay

Rose, after reading several sources re: winter storage of castings, I found out some hopefully useful info. But no two people gave the same exact answer, hah! So here goes in no particular order, yes the castings can last several months but probably not more than a year. They should probably remain cool such as in a basement and should have air holes. One lady uses a 5 gal. bucket with a lid and holes on the sides. It kind of matures as it sits and microbes in it can form cysts that could go dormant, that's good, it can prolong its usefulness and come alive again when put back in the soil. Should be sprayed at times to maintain moisture. Once it becomes hard or crusty and dry, the vitality of the microbes has probably been lost and its overall usefulness declines. If someone else finds out more about storage, I'd love to hear about it. At least for me I'm comfortable with storing worm casts after Autumn and use it again for Spring plantings.
Interesting Random Facts: Several sources agree that worm casts are naturally high in salts! Can have adverse affect if you are heavy handed when applying directly to plants. Diluting into a spray will easily extend it. Otherwise it is powerfully great stuff, also considered to act as plant hormones. And a little goes a long way.

Brenda G you may want to look at some commercial made worm bins for indoors, they look pretty small and have tiers.

givvmistamps - those are good ideas, Hey, I've seen the bench picture! I saw a picture of a bulky looking wooden coffee table too...but it's a worm bin right in the living room! (That's a little too much for me).

Kay - Going green is real nice and all but that set up was a crazy looking thing!

Thanks all for the useful information! I may just wing it with an 18 gallon storage bin I found in my shed today and go from there! I can always do better if I find I can hack it

Tonight I was collecting dandelions for a garden tea (I read about it somewhere on the forum... ) and lo and behold, I spotted neat little worm castings everywhere! Near the compost bin, under bags of leaves... even in our patchy yard. My husband saw me scurrying all over the ground scooping them up into my pail - he thinks I've completely lost it now haha! Ah well, happiness can come from anywhere I guess!

Those worm bins Kay posted are from people who are using Permaculture techniques to create a mini ecology on their property that is totally self-sufficient. It's a bit much for most people, for certain, but it's fun to see what they're doing!

The coffee table...that would be funny to see what peoples' reactions are if you decide to tell them what's inside. I wonder how many people would be willing to come back to visit after seeing WORMS in the LIVING ROOM!!! Of course, the bench I saw was intended to be used as seating in the dining room, so which would be "worse" in peoples' minds?

Now I'll have to decide whether to do a living room table or a dining room bench like I saw. We have such high summer temperatures here I'd worry about how worms would do in an outside bin even if it's in the shade all the time...in our sandy, marshy state we don't have basements and the garage would be worse than outside. Due to space issues, the only other option would be my bedroom. I doubt my friends would be surprised very much to find I'm seating
them or their children on a worm bin for dinner at my house...OR serving their iced tea on a worm bin in the living room.

our five year old son and i checked on the worms tonight before going to bed

....there is a lot of wiggling going on in there and i dont mean my son a lot more worms have come up to the middle between the first layer and second layer of paper where most of the food is the worms are looking good....moist, plump and very active....

we were able to pick a few up with our long plastic spoon.....

my son was really excited to see some really long ones in there...and the min we touched them they would go as fast as they could thru the paper.....some of them have crawled inside clumps of paper that is kinda sticks and molds together....pretty cool....

our son was talking to the worms asking them if they had pooped yet? oh my goodness.....it was too funny!

one thing we will have to do for sure soon is get them a better home....when we opened up the lid there is a strong oder ....kinda...like mold maybe?....not sure....i know for sure we need to get them better air flow....

hugs

rose

LLm....

thank you so much for all the great info!!!....i really do appreciate all the hard work you have been doing learning about how to take care of these wonderful creatures and taking the time to share it with all of us is so very kind of you!!

hugs

rose

Random thoughts--
BrendaG 18 gal bin is perfect! Before using any bin, I've heard it's best to wash it and rinse well. I highly recommend the book Worms Eat My Garbage, it's around 9 dollars.
givvmistamps you crack me up, say, how many people have worm furniture?
Rose the worms and your son sound pretty happy but the smell? Bad smells certainly mean something is off in the little ecosystem. If you can find the source like nasty putrid food take it out. And it doesn't hurt to add lots of bedding. Bedding thickness is very much under-rated, according to Bentley Christie, my main on line worm guru!
And finally, thanks for the nice comments, this is fun and it's great to talk with others that appreciate these marvelous little creatures.

I had to share, since I saw that you have a 5 y/o also, Rose...I went searching for the book Worms Eat My Garbage to put it on the wishlist, and I came across a book for ages 4-8 called Worms Eat Our Garbage! What a great thing for kids; I'll get that when I get the other, just so my older son (10) can read it to my younger son (5). What a great way for kids to learn about the worms! The only book I have that includes worm bins is Rodale's Book of Composting, so I really need a book dedicated to worm farming.

One day soon I'll have to get my worm bin built, then we can go down to the Orlando area to visit my husband's cousin and visit the worm farm to pick up our own little herd of worms.

@Llama Momma: My Composting & Gardening teacher had a worm bin/bench in her mud room. She showed it to us when we took a field trip to her house.

Givvmistamps You were lucky! I would love to meet an experienced worm owner and leisurely gab at length about worms!

I want to share the following, it sounds like best way to harvest worm castings with the least amount of mess. I will definitely try this method.

Easy Steps to Harvesting
Feed your worms one last time before harvest and leave them for at least 10 days (you want to starve them a little).

Get a small onion sack or laundry bag with holes large enough for worms to crawl through. Fill bag with some of worms favorite foods, sweet things like apples, melon peels, kiwis, etc.

Bury bag with food in next corner as you would their regular feeding. Leave for a day and a half (check) to two days.

After two days, the worms should have migrated into the onion bag. If so, remove the bag and set in a covered pail for the moment. Make sure you leave air venting.

You may want to put down a plastic sheet or bag in the harvest area as there will be some mess. Now, beginning in the opposite corner to where you last fed, start to pull out handfuls of the finished compost and dump into an empty bucket. You should find very few worms. Place any you might find into the covered bucket with the bagged worms or another smaller bucket if you like.

As you get nearer to the area where you had the bag buried, you may find a few more straggler worms. You may want to do a dump and sort with this last bit of compost - or build a small mound of finished compost, exposed to the light and sift off the top so that the worms dive down.

Once you have all the compost and worms sorted, rebuild the bed with your moistened leaves, newspaper, and couple handfuls of dirt.

Take the bag of worms and bury them in the first corner. This will be their first feeding. Make sure you put all the stragglers that were outside the bag in too.

In a week or a little less depending on how much food was in the bag, feed your worms in the next corner. In a few days, you should be able to lift the bag out of the first corner and shake it free of castings. Most of the worms should have migrated to the next feeding area and voilà you've just harvested your bin!

By having all your worms in a bag, it is also easier to see how many you actually have so that if necessary you can divide the population at that time - and start another worm bin for yourself or a friend.

great info LLM!!!

our wormies have a new home ......an 18 gal dark grey tote!l

all look well........wormies moving around....moist and plump......

when i open the lid before tranfering them into their new home.... again it smelled like mold/amonia......i sniffed a bunch of the bedding and food to try and find the odd smell .....everything smelled fine ......weird

im hoping it was the old bucket that was causing the smell.....i was using it for compost tea

hugs

rose

Hopefully the smell was leftover from the compost since the bedding was fine. A new 18 gal. bin - Yay! Now they can stretch their well, really stretch ! And lots of room for new kids

llama momma wrote:Random thoughts--
BrendaG 18 gal bin is perfect! Before using any bin, I've heard it's best to wash it and rinse well. I highly recommend the book Worms Eat My Garbage, it's around 9 dollars.

Thanks, llama momma! I could not find Worms Eat My Garbage for Kindle, but did find one titled The Best Place For Garbage and have been reading it the last couple days - just finished it and ordered a pound of wigglers from a worm farm in my region! I will be setting up their new home today so it will be ready when they arrive - I am so excited!!

Congratulations Brenda g ! Anticipating this new adventure is plain ol' good fun too

Worm Ponderings:
It's been 3 months since the worms arrived March 1st.
Settled into a routine of feeding and looking in the box just once a week instead of multiple times. Keep a gallon zip lock bag in the freezer of table scraps plus add in some fresh stuff plus a little ground egg shell each feeding. They go through a large handful or so of food each week. If I put in more, it gets stinky. There were mites for several weeks then poof nothing since. Maybe the new weekly addition of crushed eggshells keeps the pH to their disliking? Worms and canteloupe or watermelon, they get very active all over it. Friends donated around 120 pounds of newspapers. Didn't know there would be so much, bet it will last over a year and a half or more. In a few weeks I'll pull out the first load of castings and see what magic it produces
I'm considering dividing the worms into a second bin at that time, to allow lots of reproduction room, long before they have to self regulate their numbers.
Eventually I'd like to explore the idea of an outdoor, insulated year round set up, located out by the compost area.